Tuesday 31 March 2009

The Absense of 2 Months

Hi all! It's been WAY too long. I know. I've been sorely neglecting all of my blogs, which makes me wonder if I need to get rid of one. I feel like I hate having a separate blog for our family stuff and one for my days with Hazel. It feels like I'm leaving Brett out...anyway, things will stay the same until I figure out a good way to combine the 2 without deleting the entries from one.

So here's what we've missed in 2 months...

In February we took a weekend trip to County Tyrone/Fermanagh (tech it was Fermanagh but we drove through and were really close to Tyrone where my ancestors are from). We stayed in a place called Lusty Beg which is a small, privately owned island just off Boa Island. It was a very last minute decision to go. I think we just needed the chance to get away from everything. We made the cabin reservations Friday morning, and by Friday evening, we were on our way. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive, mostly in the dark, so there's not really much interesting to tell about the drive. Once we got to the island, we took a 2 car ferry over to the island, had dinner and settled in for the night. Our cabin was HUGE for 3 people, 2 bedrooms and a full bath upstairs, 1 bedroom and a full bath downstairs, with a large main living area and kitchen off to the side. Hazel was in heaven running around the large place.

Saturday we relaxed in the morning...

headed off to Breakfast at the lodge...

Then set off to discover the area.

We found Castle Archdale, where Hazel immediately made friends with a stick. It was her buddy that she carried all over the ruins...

Then we set off to find some other sites of interests but got all turned around, so we headed off to see Castle Coole. And, yes, if you're wondering, it is pretty cool, though I prefer Florence Court. Plus it was closed for the season, but atleast we got to walk the grounds...

That was our Saturday.

Sunday was focused entirely on being a family, so we got up and relaxed...

packed and headed home.

And that was Lusty Beg. We're going back. It was THAT fabulous :)

Part II of this catch up will come tomorrow as we cover Edinburgh!

Wednesday 4 March 2009

Longest night in history

Last night, to put it mildly, didn't go well.

Let's start by telling you all that Sunday Hazel ran a fever all day. Had no other ailments, other than being slightly more tempermental than normal, so we just treated her with Nurofen and tylenol to get her fever down and laid low all day. That night was awful though, as she woke up shortly after we put her to sleep, just sobbing. She sat on Brett's lap through Lost and then went back to bed.

Monday, because she was running a fever on Sunday, we stayed home until Daddy got home from work and then went to the grocery in Carrickfergus. She acted fine all day, no fever, but not much of an appetite.

Yesterday (Tuesday), we got up, took Daddy to work, she was in a good mood, came home, got ready for mom and tots. She wasn't grouchy, per say, but being "Terrible Two-ish" so it took longer than normal to get ready, but we got there on time, and she seemed to have a great time. We ran into town for 1/2 hour to get dinner, go to the bank, and I didn't take the stoller as we didn't have far to go and I figured she could use the walking. Well, 10 minutes in, she simply sat down, exhausted, and refused to go farther. So I finished our errands and headed home. Nap time went down without much of a fuss, we went to get Daddy, had dinner, then put her to bed at her usual time after Bear in The Big Blue House. She seemed keen on laying down when I took her upstairs, didn't want held, just wanted to be in her bed. She even Shhhh'd me when I sang, so I figured she was ready to crash.

WRONG.

As soon as I left her room, the screaming started. So, I though she was doing her tantrum thing she does when Mommy and Daddy are doing something without her. 20 minutes laters, she was still crying and she was crying harder, so I went up to get her. Usually when this happens, her and I go sit on mommy and daddy's bed in the dark and snuggle and sing and talk. But this time, she just sobbed. Hard. She was acting stuffy (I think from all the crying), so I yelled for Brett so he could come up to fill and turn on her humidifier. Too quietly. He didn't hear me. So I yelled again. Again, not loud enough, he didn't hear me. So I yelled one last time, and I must have scared her, because she started sobbing harder and so hard she couldn't breathe. Sigh, I just hugged her and kissed her and Brett came running, not b/c he heard me, but b/c he could hear her. We sat upstairs for a good 1/2 hour until she calmed down enough to go to sleep. That was 9:30/ 9:45. Brett and I decided to head to bed about 11, I got a shower, then snuck in to turn down her humidifier. Successful. Went to bed and pulled out my book. 1/2 way through my chapter, we heard moans. But we didn't think much of it as they were quiet and inconsistant. Dreaming, we thought. But they got louder, and more persistant, so I snuck in. She was crying in her sleep, so I rubbed her back and her head, then turned the humidifier back on. She was out. Mommy went back to bed. 1 minute (literally) later, the crying picked back up. So I went in and picked her up, but she was still mostly asleep, so I thought I would take her in with us, lay her down and when she was really asleep, I'd put her back in her room. No go. This kid is a tosser and a turner. She draped herself in the most hysterical positions over Brett and I. But she never really fell sound asleep. So I finally decided she should go back to bed as she couldn't get comfy with us. Wrong.

To sum up this story, I ended up sleeping part of the night on Hazel's floor next to her crib, b/c the second she couldn't see me, she would start in on the hysterics. Then I finally was sure she was sound asleep and went to my bed for a whopping 2 hours. Then they hysterics started again. so we came downstairs, but I was so dead that by 5, we had to come back up. I couldn't do another second.

Brett, Hazel, and I are zombies today. I'm thinking it was teething. Any other ideas? I can't do another night like that.